Archive for Coffee & Tea

One of our team makes two runs a day for a Caramel Macchiato at the corner Starbucks. This one’s for you, Christina.

There are numerous types of espresso drinks, from Affogato (espresso served over ice cream) to Vanilla Latte (3:1 steamed milk and espresso with vanilla-flavored syrup).

“Macchiato” means marked or stained in Italian (in France, it’s called Cafe Noisette). In Italy, Caffe Macchiato is made in an espresso cup, from steamed milk which is “marked” by the addition of espresso. The espresso, poured into the center of the foam, sinks down and leaves a brown spot on top. In Italy, it’s a mid-morning drink’ many Italians add a bit of sugar.

The chief difference between a Macchiato and a Latte is that the Macchiato has aesthetically pleasing layers of color. With a Latte, the espresso and milk are completely integrated (see photos at right).

As adapted to American tastes, the Macchiato became a larger drink. A Caramel Macchiato starts with steamed milk and vanilla syrup, adds the espresso, and tops the drink with a drizzle of caramel syrup. (Starbucks says that its 16 ounce size is 250 calories.)

RECIPE #1: HOMEMADE CARAMEL MACCHIATO

You can make your own at home in five minutes and double the recipe if you like. But try the single size first in case you want to adjust the proportions.

You can buy the syrups or make your own (recipes below).

Ingredients Per Drink

1 tablespoon vanilla syrup

2/3 cup milk

1 shot espresso

Garnish: caramel sauce

Preparation

1. WARM an empty cup (we microwave it for 10 seconds) and add 1 tablespoon of vanilla syrup. Froth the milk and add it, along with the foam, to the cup.

2. Pour in the espresso. Drizzle the caramel sauce to garnish, and serve.

1. COMBINE the water, sugars and salt in a heavy saucepan, add granulated sugar. Cook over medium-high heat until the sugar is completely dissolved, stirring slowly until the syrup reaches full a boil.

2. REDUCE the syrup for 5 minutes over a simmer. Remove from the heat, let cool and stir in the vanilla extract.

1. ADD the sugar to a heavy saucepan and cook over medium-high heat. The sugar will liquefy; watch it closely because it burns easily. When the liquid starts to turn amber, remove the pan from the heat and immediately…

2. WHISK in the butter and fully incorporate it into the sugar. Quickly whisk in the cream (bubbles and foam are natural).

3. STIR in the vanilla and salt. Let cool and transfer to a squeeze bottle (or other container).

The new Coffee Flavor Wheel offers essential training on how to understand the flavors and aromas of coffee. Photos courtesy SCAA.org.

One of the ways you get to be expert in a category—beer, chocolate, coffee, olive oil or wine, for example—is to learn to identify the flavor elements.

We do this with a flavor wheel: a chart that identifies the different flavors and aromas of the particular food. Then, as we taste the food, we learn to identify its specific flavors and aromas by referencing the wheel.

Twenty-one years ago, the Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA) created the Coffee Taster’s Flavor Wheel to help professionals identify the sensory attributes of any particular [brewed] coffee bean. It became one of the most valued resources in the industry.

Earlier this year, the SCAA released an updated version, which is a valuable tool for any coffee lover who wants to better understand it. The Coffee Wheel is instrumental to understanding flavor attributes—what we call flavor notes.

Using the World Coffee Research Sensory Lexicon as a foundation, dozens of industry professional—sensory experts, research scientists, coffee tasters, buyers and roasters—collaborated for more than three years to update the Lexicon and the Wheel.

The SCAA notes that this is the largest and most collaborative piece of research on coffee flavor ever completed, and provides a new set of vocabulary for industry professionals.

“This groundbreaking new tool will shift the way our industry thinks about and utilizes coffee flavor,” said the news release.

When we first received this recipe, we thought: Readers of The Nibble won’t want to buy or make the oleo saccharum. Holiday season is busy enough as it is.

But we loved the recipe, and decided to make it for our own holiday celebration. We tasted the test batch and thought: We’ll be shortchanging our readers if we don’t share this.

The recipe was created by Masahiro Urushido, an award-winning New York City bartender. He used Auchentoshan American Oak Single Malt Scotch, Rothman & Winter Orchard Apricot Liqueur and Lejay Creme de Cassis.

Masa calls his recipe Pepperdier Christmas Punch, adapting the name of a friend. But since that can be confusing to the rest of us (we tried to research “Pepperdier” online), we’ll rename it slightly to Scotch Christmas Punch, acknowledging both the country of inspiration and the Scotch whisky in the recipe.

3. MIX all ingredients except the sparkling wine in a punch bowl. Garnish with rosemary, cranberries, orange slices and bay leaves. Top with sparkling wine and serve.

No Punch Bowl?

If you don’t have a punch bowl, mix all ingredients except the sparkling wine in a pitcher. To serve, pour the punch into individual glasses, top with sparkling wine and garnish with an orange slice.

Both of these are Scottish breakfast teas, yet look at the difference in the blends. The top photo is Scottish Morn from Harney & Sons. The bottom photo is Scottish Breakfast tea blend from Jenier Teas.

WHAT IS OLEO SACCHARUM?

Oleo saccharum is citrus oil blended with sugar. In Latin, oleo means oil and saccharum means sugar. It became prominent in the 19th-century as a way to provide a subtle citrus flavor and aroma to sweetened drinks, instead of plain sugar syrup (simple syrup).

Oleo saccharum is made from orange and/or lemon peels (lime peels have too much bitterness) that are muddled (crushed) to release the oils. Sugar is added to the muddled peel and mixes with the citrus oil that emerges from the skins. The peel is strained out, leaving sugared citrus oil.

You can use it to add an elegant citrus note to any cocktail that requires sugar/simple syrup, and can blend it with club soda for a refreshing non-alcoholic drink.

The bottled oleo saccharum from Cocktail & Sons, featured in the photo above, is a citrus syrup enriched with fresh lemongrass, toasted green cardamom and ginger. You can buy it on Amazon.com.

The blends have more flavor to stand up to milk or cream, complement British breakfast foods (eggs, porridge, ham, bacon, etc.) and provide heartiness (more body and caffeine) to energize the drinker in the morning. Afternoon tea blends tend to be lighter and smoother, to pair with sweets and tea sandwiches.

The British first imported tea from China in the 17th century, to great public appreciation. Coffee was available at the time, but otherwise beer and stout were drunk by everyone, including children, because of contaminated water sources.

The British became avid tea drinkers, and since the 18th century have been among the world’s greatest per capita tea consumers.

In China tea is drunk plain, but in the 1720s, the British began to add sugar and milk or cream to create a more comforting beverage. Black tea came to exceed green tea in popularity, as it goes better with sugar and milk. (The same pattern occurred in the Thirteen Colonies.)

The Different Types Of Breakfast Tea

In order of robust flavor and body:

English Breakfast Tea is the mildest of the strong teas. It can be a blend of teas from Africa, India (Assam), Indonesia and Sri Lanka (Ceylon), with a base of Chinese congou tea. Originally, before tea cultivation expanded beyond China, it was unblended congou tea.

Irish Breakfast Tea has a good amount of Assam, giving it Assam’s malty flavor notes and reddish color. It often contain others black teas, including Darjeeling, to balance the intense flavors of Assam.

Scottish Breakfast Tea is the strongest of the three, with a base of Assam plus the smoother Keemun tea from China, among other teas in the blend.

It’s important to note that there is no standard formula for any of these blends and no governing body specifying what each should contain. The blends evolved over time, likely as one vendor sought to copy a popular blend offered by another vendor.

Thus, teas of the same name—English Breakfast, Earl Grey, Jasmine, etc.—can vary slightly in taste, aroma and appearance from vendor to vendor, and country to country. Names can also vary for the same type of blend. [Source]

For example, fine tea vendor Harney & Sons calls its Scottish Breakfast Tea “Scottish Morn.” Describing the blend, which was made to the specifications of the American Scottish Foundation, Harney says:

“A mixture of dark brown leaves, the smaller pieces of Assam and Ceylon and [the] CTC (cut, tear, curl) method make for a stronger tea. This is one of our darkest teas, brewing a very dark brown color. Many Scots would lighten it with milk. Aroma is not the point of this tea, so there are only hints of suggestions of malt. It is caffeinated [and] a very full bodied tea…perhaps the strongest tea we offer. Strong and simple, this tea is meant to be drunk with milk.”

And now you know about Scottish Breakfast Tea and its kin, English Breakfast and Irish Breakfast. Enjoy the teas…and the punch!

We were recently asked about what gift to give a college student who lives in a dorm. Our thoughts immediately went to the new Keurig 2.0 K200/K250 Brewing System.

KEURIG 2.0 K200/K250 SINGLE SERVE BREWER

Designed with a smaller, more compact footprint, the K200/K250 (the difference is extra accessories) is sized right for small kitchens, dorm rooms, small office spaces (we have one on our desk).

The best small footprint single-serve machine we’ve tried, it takes up half the space of our Keurig 2.0 K450. The Keurig 2.0 series brews a single-serve cup or 4-cup carafe (the carafe is an extra purchase and uses a larger pod).

It’s also good for homes that don’t brew a lot of single-serve coffee. If you just brew one or two cups in the morning and/or evening, why take up the space with a 70-ounce water reservoir?